“I don’t like it.”

Mr. Cramstock didn’t know who the first person was that uttered those words.

The phrase passed along from mouth to ear, from person to person, from clique to clique, across boundaries; an audible illness of negativity.

The forty-six year old science teacher first noticed it among co-workers in the lunchroom. He watched it spread until the phrase became a rote response to any question of opinion. It hadn’t occurred to him then that it could affect the student body. He didn’t know that cities would burn.

No, this morning his gaze was locked on an unusual trouble-maker. It was the first class of the day and Daniel Heintz was looking at him and repeating the words, “I don’t like it.”

Daniel was a good student and able to explain complex ideas in ways his classmates understood. That Daniel wasn’t present today.

Other students picked it up, repeating the words over and over.

Mr Cramstock had had enough and clapped his hands. “Stop it at once!”

In response, the students stood as one.